Relating ages, determined using the decay of radioactive elements in minerals, to geological events is central to understanding mountain building and continental evolution. This research will use carefully sampled rocks from Antarctica to improve current estimates of the distribution of ... elements that occur at only trace (parts per million) concentrations between the key mineral used in dating, zircon, and the common mineral garnet. This information will then be used to link zircon ages to the major events and processes that occurred during the assembly of ancient pieces of crust to form what is now East Antarctica, and other continents.

The aim of this project was to collect geological material appropriate for evaluating the chemical signatures of the minerals zircon, monazite and garnet formed during various stages of partial melting, melt accumulation and melt extraction in rocks undergoing deformation and metamorphism at high grades. A second objective was to collect gneisses in which the mineral record of early metamorphic events might be clarified in the complex Prydz Bay region.

Geologists SL Harley, NM Kelly and T Hokada undertook field work over the period 21 December 2006 to 2 March 2007. Samples were collected by the usual techniques, using hammer and chisel, and documented in the field using sketches, photographs and GPS.

Sampling was complemented by detailed outcrop- and larger-scale mapping centred on defining the precise relationships between the rocks and mineral sites sampled.

The data set consists of an excel workbook containing three spreadsheets. The three spreadsheets provide listings of the geological rock samples collected during the course of fieldwork by SL Harley, NM Kelly and T Hokada respectively. Each sheet provides sample numbers/codes, locations by name (and by code name if used in the collectors field notebook) and by latitude and longitude given in terms of degrees and decimalised minutes. Each sample is also described in terms of its mineralogy, some aspects of its structural or relational setting, and purpose for collection.

Sample numbers are described in the following way: The letters are the initials of the collector (sh, TH, NK) and the sample number is usually of the form year/num e.g. 06/45.

The abbreviations used on the worksheets in the Excel spreadsheet are: